


Suddenly You're Standing Still

by adara



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Allison Argent, Alive Vernon Boyd & Erica Reyes, Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Based on a Tumblr Post, Crack and Angst, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Derek Hale Saves The Day, Established Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Families of Choice, Fluff and Crack, Future Fic, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Pack Feels, Pack Mother Stiles Stilinski, Puppy Piles, Second in Command Stiles Stilinski, aka hugs, emotional jumper cables
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 00:18:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14944064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adara/pseuds/adara
Summary: It’s been a long night. Nope, that’s inaccurate. It’s been a long year but they’re all okay and in the end that’s what counts. Right?Or that fic in which the pack defeats the latest big bad in a series of big bads, Stiles is happy, Derek is sad, and Stiles knows just how to fix a sad Derek.





	Suddenly You're Standing Still

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written with the intention of being actual crack, based on [this post](http://pixielpoop.tumblr.com/post/174856960709/emo-sanders-sides-loving-unicorn). However, I am apparently incapable of writing anything without a bit of angsting so here I present to you what is quite possibly the shortest thing I've ever written: fluffy crack with slight angst. I saw this post on my dash and sent it to my beautiful fandom friend Kelly and basically said, "this, but Sterek" and she said yes. Then I kept thinking about it and I couldn't sleep last night so here you go.
> 
> Song title from "What Does the Fox Say" by Ylvis

It’s been a long night. Nope, that’s inaccurate. It’s been a long fucking year but, quite honestly, the past two weeks of complete and utter supernatural bullshit culminated into a particularly long and shitty night for the pack. But they’re all okay and in the end that’s what counts. Right?

Erica, Boyd, and Isaac are collapsed against each other on the couch. Scott’s somehow managed to be both half starfished across and half sandwiched between Isaac and Allison. They’re all filthy, their clothes caked in a combination of mud, blood, and the bits of nature that tend to stick to you when tearing through the preserve off-trail. As the werewolf pack of Beacon Hills is apt to do. They’re all filthy and exhausted, but they’re safe.

They're feeling the depths of that safety here in the loft, at the top of the building Derek bought and renovated for them. With the many safety features between here and the secured ground floor entrance, with their alpha and Stiles here they’re as safe as they'll ever be, nestled into one another and taking in some well earned rest. Yet another threat neutralized after way too many late night research spirals and a frankly unhealthy volume of increasingly caffeinated beverages.

Stiles looks over his pack from what he’s leaning against the wall by the stairs. He can’t fight the half smile that’s fighting it’s way onto his face, the contentment he feels practically bone deep right now. They’re worth the sleepless nights, the cover stories, the everything that it took to get here. Everything they’ve gone through, everything they’ve faced- it’s all led to this. They built this pack together, all of them rising from their own sort of ashes to be reborn as the family they chose. His pack. His family. Bickering and all.

He’s jostled from his train of thought as a motion catches the corner of his eye. Derek’s descending the spiral staircase, hair still wet from his shower and towel hanging loosely over his shoulders. Derek comes to a standstill at the base of the stairs, his eyes look briefly to the pack piled on his couch and the armchair they’d pulled up to accommodate them all under the guise of finally just getting to sit and chill and breathe- which quickly turned into quietly murmured reassurances followed by snores.

Stiles is happy, again he’s making a mental note that even the word content could somehow encapsulate this moment. He must be on a natural endorphin high. He’s sure he’ll crash soon but for now he’s practically jubilant that there’s no other threat in sight for once, that they’re catching a damn break for the first time in so long, that Deaton’s assured them that the balance has been reestablished and that they should have a smoother ride from here on out.

But he can see that Derek’s not. Derek is not happy, content, jubilant, joyous, giddy, or any other word with blatantly positive connotations right now. If anything, Derek looks sad standing there and it’s more than just his once default RBF in the aftermath of their long and shitty night. It’s the kind of sad Stiles can see in the set of his shoulders, in the glint of his eyes. It’s the kind of sad that Stiles recognizes in the mirror himself when he’s on the doorstep of the anniversary of his mom’s death. The kind of sad that Stiles knows means he’s missing his family, his first real pack. The kind of sad they’re both quick enough to mask around the others, but catch glimpses of on one another when the timing is just right. Stiles may not be a werewolf, but he’s always been sharp and observational. There’s a sad Derek right in front of him, almost close enough to touch.

Derek doesn’t startle when Stiles moves from the space and comes back with two bottles of water, passing him one wordlessly. They each sip their bottle quietly for a moment before Stiles does a quick visual sweep of Derek, of what he can see around the towel, fresh tank top and track pants.

"Looks like you’re completely intact again, Sourwolf. Ten points to Hufflepuff for your super werewolf healing. But, there’s just this one little thing,” Stiles starts, makes his way into Derek’s personal space like he’s about to pluck some imaginary lint off his shoulder and Derek rolls his eyes. “I have emotional jumper cables, I'll boost you. Just attach like so..."

"This is just a hug." Derek says, body remaining stiff and his face impassive.

"Is it working?" Stiles asks hopefully.

Derek sighs and finally raises his arms to equally envelop Stiles, "...yeah."

He can feel Stiles’ grin against his chest as he huffs out a breath, pulling him out of his head and back into the present.

“You did good tonight. You all did.”

“You did too, Derek.” Stiles shifts his head briefly to glare at him, staunching any comments to the contrary that Derek may or may not have been about to respond with. “That carefully laid plan went belly up because _I_ missed something. You kept your shit together, you got the rest of them to get their shit together, and you got the shit done that needed doing with some superb improv, I might add.”

“Stiles-”

“You’re a good alpha, Derek. They’re lucky to have you. I know I am.”

And before Derek can respond that they’re lucky to have Stiles too, that it wasn’t just him that had missed the presence of a tricky alliance that they’d had to work around- the moment is broken by the tiniest burst of Ylvis before Stiles flails back and unlocks the phone. Derek hears the telltale flick of the ringer being turned off, tuning out the call and zeroing in on the even breathing of his pack.

“That was Kira. They finished the cleanup with Chris. She said she, Lydia and Cora made it back to Peter and Malia’s apartment. They're crashing there. It’s Jackson’s turn to get breakfast and I was told we all need to be presentable and at that new brunch place by the falls by 11 sharp.”

“Does Kira know her ringtone is ‘What does the fox say?’ or is that fair game brunch cannon fodder?” Derek asks, eyebrow arching.

Stiles looks thoughtful, taps a finger to his jaw, “Given that she’s generally not within earshot when she calls, there’s a 50/50 chance either way.”

“There’s a 100% chance that you still need a shower though.” Derek smiles at him genuinely, the small smiles that are just for him. “Shower then bed. We apparently have to be presentable and on location in 6 hours. Can’t miss pack breakfasts.”

Stiles looks down as if remembering for the first time that he’s just as filthy as the rest of the pack, knows scrubbing this night away is definitely going to cut into their now limited time to sleep. Derek sees the moment Stiles’ face scrunches up in disgust at the realization that he’d just been all up in his freshly showered business in that state and starts to head up the stairs.

“And Stiles?” Derek calls up to him quietly, though his betas and Allison sleep like rocks.

Stiles pauses and inclines his head as if to say continue.

“Thanks for the jumper cables. You always know how to get me started.”

Stiles cackles on his way up the stairs. “That was the actual worst. You’re ridiculous.”

Derek shrugs, doesn’t disagree with that assessment at all. 

“Showering now and then I’ll see you in bed. For sleeping. I’m not getting you started on anything other than enjoying curling up in those awesome new sheets I got. We haven't seen that bed in two weeks and it's calling my freaking name. I can _hear_ it.”

It’s Derek’s turn to laugh now, nodding in agreement. With the loft filled with the safe scents and sounds of his pack, Derek’s asleep long before he’s back. They wake five hours later, curled around each other and tangled in the new sheets that _are_ actually pretty awesome, to an unimpressed Lydia looming over them.

In their sleepy fog they catch the sounds of Kira gently rousing the rest of the pack to start getting ready for the reservations that Cora and Malia are lamenting they're definitely not going to be on time for given that five of them still need to hit shower. There's no more sleep to be had, no more standing still. Lydia gets them all to brunch, put together even, with 47 seconds to spare.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr at [9timesoutoften](https://9timesoutoften.tumblr.com/) where all asks and prompts are answered in some form and very occasionally posted here and where you can always reach out to me to talk Sterek


End file.
